Jim Caldwell comments on Lions' win over Packers

Below is a look at what Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell had to say after Sunday's win over the Green Bay Packers. (Quotes provided by the Lions.)

Opening statement: "A tough division battle, which I think everybody anticipated and understands that this game was going to be a tough one. It was going to be a hard-fought game. Both sides, I think, were very, very competitive. You have to give a lot of credit to them. They're a tough and explosive team that has won a lot of games and certainly have been right in the thick of things each and every year. Our guys had to play well and I think we did a tremendous job in terms of our defense. We did a great job keeping them under control. When you keep Aaron Rodgers out of the end zone that number of times with the possessions that he had, it was quite a feat. Our defense did a great job in terms of making them go the distance. They didn't let them have anything easy, kept the ball in front of them even despite the fact that we were minus two in the turnover battle. Typically, those games are tough to win when you're down minus two. Overall, our offense did a nice job in terms of controlling the ball and keeping the ball out of his hands, but running the ball to win there at the end, running six minutes and some odd seconds off the clock, doing a tremendous job of keeping the ball in our hands. At the end of the half as well, we had a chance to score and didn't, but we kept the ball out his (Rodgers') hands in terms of a two-minute drive. Overall, I thought it was a heck of an effort by our guys. The other thing that jumped out at you is the fact that we had so many guys, unfortunately, that got hurt during the course of the game and guys were able to step in. That ‘next man up' theory that we talk about, they didn't miss a beat."

On the status of LB Stephen Tulloch: "Not quite certain yet. They'll evaluate him and take a look at him."

On if it could be a season-ending injury for Tulloch: "I'm not quite certain what his status is at this point and I won't discuss that until we find something else out further."

On how much he is aware of Packers QB Aaron Rodgers' impact on both sides of the ball: "Obviously, anytime that he is on the field, he's a quick-strike artist. He can get the ball to his weapons on the outside and he does a great job of checking to runs when he has it. He operates that offense extremely well. We're well aware of his adeptness at operating that system."

On how well his defense played while being shorthanded: "Well, I think that we were able to stop the run and obviously limiting their running opportunities was good. Even though, I think they were patient with their run game and I think we held them to about 76 yards or somewhere around there. I think our defense did a real nice job. Once you take the run away, then you can try to keep things in front of you. The play-action fakes aren't quite as drastic, they don't have as much pull on you from your linebacker positions and your perimeter. So, I thought they did a tremendous job there and that kind of set the stage. Not only that, when you drop back to pass, other than when he got the ball out of his hands quickly, the guys put pressure on him and were around him quite often. You have to commend our guys. (Ndamukong) Suh did a great job, (Nick) Fairley was tough in there and the guys on the edge did a nice job as well putting pressure on them. It was a good rotation even though he didn't let us substitute much. He kind of kept it close to the line of scrimmage and caught us in one situation where we tried to substitute. But, overall, I thought they played well."

On LB DeAndre Levy's play after Tulloch was injured: "Typically every game that he has played in, obviously, he's been a factor. The last year he had a great year and this year he hasn't missed a beat. He's one of those guys that is extremely active and he's sort of a quite force out there, but around the ball all the time. The thing that happened today, where he had to take over the headset and then also communicate the calls to the defense, is something that ordinarily Tully (Stephen Tulloch) does, but he did a great job with it. He was not fazed by it, did not get frustrated or flustered at any point in time. He really did a nice job."

On if he looks at this win as a step forward for the organization: "I can only look at things from my vantage point since we've been here. Historically, those things happen, but now is a different time, different set of players that are playing for us and different circumstances. Like I said, we're never going to get too high or too low. This is a real fine victory but we have a lot of work ahead of us next week."

On if he was aware that Rodgers was 9-0 against the Lions when he started and finished a game: "I am certainly aware of a lot of things. You have to play every game as is. I didn't pay much attention to it."

On the play of CB Darius Slay and CB Rashean Mathis: "Slay and Mathis did a nice job. One of the things that is very difficult for individuals to notice is the impact that Mathis has on games. He's a real settling force for those guys out there. Not only in terms of what he does out here during the course of the game, you can see him communicating back and forth, making certain everything is in place, but what he does in practice and the meeting rooms, he's absolutely invaluable. Slay is a young guy and making really, really good progress. He just keeps getting better every week. He gets challenged every week and sees different styles of receivers with different strengths every week. He has certainly been able to progress. With the number of guys playing for us at the nickel, we had planned to play a couple guys in there and we always have a backup plan, but we went three deep in this particular case and I thought the guys fared well.  We'll look at the film and see exactly how well they did."

On the kicking situation: "We'll have to evaluate and see where we were, see what the situation is and we'll do that here shortly."

On how impressed he was with a gritty type of win: "Well, I think that's a good word for it. I think that's one of the things that this team has shown that they do have, they do have grit. They have the ability to dig down deep in tough situations and make the best out of them. Today, there were a number of them that occurred. I think that's part of the building and the psychological sort of exercise that the team goes through in terms of trying to build mental toughness. We're not where we want to be yet, we're a long way away from that. We haven't arrived by any stretch of imagination, but I think our guys, in this particular game, we were headed in the right direction."

On if he expects this type of outcome from his defense when going into a game: "Well, I go into the game expecting our defense to play well. I go into the game expecting our offense to play well. I go into the game expecting our special teams to play well. That's what we expect. We set high standards around here and we haven't met them yet, but they're still lofty goals and I think our guys certainly take that challenge and are open to it."

On if he feels like he should talk to the team about the way Tulloch suffered his injury: "There's got to be some enthusiasm in the game. That's why these guys play, that's why we coach it because you have passion for it. That was a big moment. Things happen. I remember it was some time ago back where (Martin) Gramatica hurt his knee on a particular play. Those things are flukes and our guys will keep certainly being excited about what they do."

On S Don Carey's injury: "I'm not sure. We'll see and evaluate him."